The field of the invention is drinking cups and the invention relates more particularly to cups adapted with means to reduce the tendency to splash or spill. Such cups are especially useful for coffee, tea and other hot or cold beverages where splashing can be painful as well as inconvenient.
Many devices are used to reduce the tendency of drinking cups to spill. The most common device is a thin plastic cap which is commonly placed over the upper lid of a paper or plastic cup. For beverages drunk by use of a straw, a straw opening is commonly provided in the lid and provides adequate protection against spills. The straw opening is, of course, not useful for coffee, tea or other hot liquids not typically drunk with a straw. For such liquids it is necessary to remove the lid at which point there is no protection against spilling or slopping. Other no spill approaches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,360,161, 3,952,910, 3,360,160, 3,549,044, 3,171,580, 3,730,399, 3,868,043, 3,938,695, 2,753,049, 3,994,411 and 3,940,012. All of the devices described in the above listed patents suffer from various deficiencies. A common deficiency is the inability of the user to add cream, sugar, ice, lemon or the like without removing the lid or spill preventer. Similarly, for most of the devices the user cannot use a spoon or other stirring device without removing the lid or baffle.